Julia Haart’s new show on Netflix called My Unorthodox Life is a gross misrepresentation of the Jewish Community of Monsey.
The show is riddled with misinformation and falsehoods.
The Haart family fabricated many of the narratives in this show simply to get a program on Netflix.
Furthermore, we believe that Netflix should be held accountable for not doing their due diligence and fact-checking.
We believe this will insight more antisemitism and hatred towards the community.
I agree wholeheartedly with you sentiments regarding modesty and sex with the haart family. However what you are omitting to recognise is the huge amount on unmarried sex that takes place in the charadi community in particular with children. It all goes unpunished and is dealt with in house by the rabbi so the offender strikes again.
While I strongly disagree with the showing of “Unorthodox”, I feel that in certain ways, this “fact checking” did a very serious dis-service. One “item” that I have learned is NOT to try to “cover up” matters that are “unpleasant”. Unfortunately, this “fact checking” did just that — leaving the presenters open to refutation and WEAKENING what they were trying to present. A few examples follow:
1. Ms. Haart made a point of how the MAN “controls” the process of delivering a divorce. The presenters — basically — dismissed this as a “non issue”. That is simply NOT the case. Asserting that putting a recalcitrant husband in “Cherem” is effective simply disregards the actual facts. There are quite q few women who have suffered from this. The very fact that an organization (“ORA”) has been formed (with Halachic Guidance) indicates very powerfully the seriousness of the problem. Instead of ADMITTING that this COULD be a problem and the Orthodox Community is addressing it (e.g., through the mechanism of the “prenuptial agreement”), the presenters are either clueless or deceptive.
2. There are numerous DIFFERENT communities in Monsey. These communities all have different Hashkafot — including the attitude toward secular education. Instead of an honest presentation with the [legitimate] criticism that Ms. Haart is lumping everyone together without recognizing the DIVERSITY of the Orthodox, the presenters try to say that this is not an issue at all. However, there ARE issues as to how “thoroughly” various groups educate their “young people”.
3. Ms. Haart makes a point that women can not “sing” (because of “kol Ishah” — even though she does not use the technical term). The “fact check” should have made clear that — to a limited success — Ms. Haart is correct that a woman can NOT sing “in public”. A woman can only sing in front of other WOMEN. The “fact check” DID mention that the wife was a singer but it “glided over” the fact that she can only sing in front of other women.
4. Ms. Haart noted the lack of “sex education” and that “sex was taboo”. While she is wrong (the Talmud is QUITE explicit and even has an example of a father advising his daughter how to ensure
that her husband will have an intense sexual experience), on a PRACTICAL level, it appears to be the case that Chasan and Kallah teachers do NOT always present more than the Halachot. This matter was “glided over” by the presenters. While they made a nice case that Sex is NOT “taboo”, they failed (in my opinion) to properly address the issue of boys and girls not receiving a “proper” sexual education.
I could go on but I believe that my point has been made — one does NOT “defend” Orthodoxy by “covering up” the “challenging” aspects of Orthodoxy.. Rather, a direct response is much more likely to be effective.